Govt reaches out to BJP on Banking Bill

Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday reached out to the BJP seeking its cooperation on the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill that has been stuck in the Lok Sabha with the BJP and Left parties demanding it to be referred to the Standing Committee. Chidambaram was learnt to have held a closed door meeting with Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her counterpart from the Upper House Arun Jaitley on Tuesday to seek their support.

BJP leader Yashwant Sinha had taken strong objection to the Bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday and demanded it be referred to the Standing Committee because the government had incorporated certain new provisions that the Standing Committee on Finance had not vetted as they were not part of the original Bill introduced last year.

In the meeting, Chidambaram was learnt to have explained that those sections were based on the recommendations related to forwards markets made by the Standing Committee on Food in a separate report.

The BJP leadership only took note of Chidambaram's arguments and were learnt to have said that they will get back to him after examining the contents of other report.

"We have said that we will come back with a structured response soon. However, we made it clear that the party has serious apprehensions against bringing forward trading under the ambit of banking laws," confided a source in the BJP.

Senior party leaders are likely to firm up the BJP's stance on the issue on Wednesday. "The party may take a final view tomorrow," Sinha told The Indian Express.

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